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City A owns a downtown plaza connected to public sidewalks and regularly opens it for rallies, concerts, and festivals. After several noisy protests, the city adopted a speech ordinance. The ordinance prohibits "political advocacy concerning foreign conflicts" in the plaza or on adjacent sidewalks, but allows labor rallies, charity events, and candidate campaign events. The ordinance also requires a permit for any group of more than 25 people using amplified sound after 8 p.m. The permit official may deny a permit if the official believes the event would be "inconsistent with the city's image" or would "create excessive controversy." No deadline requires the official to act.
A peace organization applied to hold a rally criticizing a foreign war. The city denied the permit under both the foreign-conflict ban and the "city image" standard. The organization sues under the First Amendment.
Analyze the First Amendment issues raised by the forum, subject-matter ban, amplified-sound permit requirement, and permit-discretion standards.